'Slutwalkers' denounce excuses for rape

BOSTON, May 8 (UPI) -- Proclaiming their right to dress as they please without being assaulted, 200 scantily clad women marched through downtown Boston.

Saturday's "Boston Slutwalk" was part of an international campaign responding to a Toronto police officer's reported statement that students should avoid rape by not dressing like "sluts."

The group on the Boston Common chanted, "However we dress, wherever we go, yes means yes and no means no," the Boston Herald reported.

"Just because I want to go out and have a good time doesn't mean you can do whatever you want with me," said Natalie Olbrych, 21, of Brownsville, Vt., who said she was raped in 2007 during high school.

Jaclyn Friedman of Medford, Mass., co-author of the book "Yes Means Yes: Visions of Female Sexual Power and a World Without Rape," called the word "slut" a "vicious weapon" designed to "keep us in line. ... To make us police each other, turn on each other and turn each other in so that we can prove we're not 'like that.'"

She cited the case of Phoebe Prince, the Massachusetts teenager who committed suicide last year after a boy she broke up with goaded girls to call her an "Irish slut" and a "whore."

United Press International is a leading provider of news, photos and information to millions of readers around the globe via UPI.com and its licensing services.

With a history of reliable reporting dating back to 1907, today’s UPI is a credible source for the most important stories of the day, continually updated - a one-stop site for U.S. and world news, as well as entertainment, trends, science, health and stunning photography. UPI also provides insightful reports on key topics of geopolitical importance, including energy and security.

A Spanish version of the site reaches millions of readers in Latin America and beyond.

UPI was founded in 1907 by E.W. Scripps as the United Press (UP). It became known as UPI when after a merger with the International News Service in 1958, which was founded in 1909 by William Randolph Hearst. Today, UPI is owned by News World Communications.